Catholic Church ignored the sexual abuse of thousands of children by priests in Ireland for 60 years, says official report
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:32 PM on 20th May 2009
- Safety of children in general was not a consideration
- 216 church and state institutions involved
- No abusers will be prosecuted
- Children were seen as 'corrupted' by sexual activity
The Catholic Church in Ireland was aware long-term sex offenders were repeatedly abusing children while working in the country's church and state-run institutions, a damning report revealed today.
The Child Abuse Commission detailed a catalogue of disturbing and chronic sexual, physical and emotional abuse inflicted on thousands of disadvantaged, neglected and abandoned children by both religious and lay staff over the last 70 years.
The dangers to the children were not taken into account, the inquiry found.
Angry exchanges took place between Commission staff and victims of abuse, who were barred from the launch of the report in a central Dublin hotel.
No abusers will be prosecuted as a result of the inquiry.
The report found: 'The risk (to children), however, was seen by the congregations in terms of the potential scandal and bad publicity should the abuse be disclosed.'
Judge Sean Ryan, who chaired the Commission, concluded that when confronted with evidence of sex abuse, religious authorities responded by transferring the sex offenders to another location, where in many instances they were free to abuse again.
'There was evidence that such men took up teaching positions sometimes within days of receiving dispensations because of serious allegations or admissions of sexual abuse,' the report said.
'The safety of children in general was not a consideration.'
Sexual abuse was endemic in boys' schools while in girls' schools, children were subjected to predatory abuse by male employees, visitors and while on outside placements.
Abuse was rarely reported to the State authorities but on the rare occasion the Department of Education was informed, it colluded with the religious orders in the culture of silence.
The Department generally dismissed or ignored sexual abuse complaints and never brought them to the attention of the Garda.
'At best, the abusers were moved but nothing was done about the harm done to the child. At worst, the child was blamed and seen as corrupted by the sexual activity, and was punished severely,' the report stated.
Children were so badly neglected, survivors spoke of scavenging for food from waste bins and animal feed.
Unsupervised bullying in boys' schools often left smaller, weaker children without food.
Accommodation was cold, spartan and bleak while children were often left in soiled, wet work clothes after being forced to toil for long hours outdoors in farms, the report found.
Victim John Walsh, of leading campaign group Irish Survivors of Child Abuse (Soca), called the report a hatchet job that left open wounds gaping.
'The little comfort we have is the knowledge that it vindicated the victims who were raped and sexually abused,' said Mr Walsh.
'I'm very angry, very bitter, and feel cheated and deceived.
'I would have never opened my wounds if I'd known this was going to be the end result.
'It has devastated me and will devastate most victims because there is no criminal proceedings and no accountability whatsoever.'
Responding to the report, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, the new leader of Catholics in England and Wales, told ITV News: 'It's very distressing and very disturbing and my heart goes out today first of all to those people who will find that their stories are now told in public...
'Secondly, I think of those in religious orders and some of the clergy in Dublin who have to face these facts from their past which instinctively and quite naturally they'd rather not look at.
'That takes courage, and also we shouldn't forget that this account today will also overshadow all of the good that they also did.'
Asked whether those who perpetrated violence and abuse should be held to account, he said: 'Yes they should, no matter how long ago it happened.
'In this country now we have a very steady and reliable system of co-operation with police and social services who actually now hold us in good regard.
'They know that we are reliable and trustworthy partners. Those that abused the trust that was placed in them should be brought to public account.'
Asked whether legal and police process should take place, he said: 'Yes, absolutely. If the offences are such that demand that.'
Asked why abuse seemed more prevalent in the Catholic Church than other faiths, he said: 'Every time there is a single incident of abuse in the Catholic Church it is a scandal.
Tom Sweeney, who spent five years at industrial schools including two years at one where the report said sexual abuse was a 'chronic problem', said Dublin's Artane Industrial School continued to haunt its former residents.
'Anybody that came into Artane did not come out a happy person and unfortunately there are a lot of people that have committed suicide, there are a lot of people that have ended up in hospitals and they have been forgotten about.
'You didn't forget about Artane and you never forget about it.'
Victims hope the massive report - five volumes totalling 2,500 pages - will finally reveal the full extent of the abuse inflicted on them by Roman Catholic nuns and priests.
Roughly 2,500 men and women who were abused in 216 schools and institutions all over the country gave evidence over the nine-year investigation
Several hundred institutions run by religious orders, including industrial schools, institutions for children with disabilities and ordinary day schools, have been examined.
The report proposed 21 ways the government could recognise past wrongs, including building a permanent memorial, providing counselling and education to victims, and improving Ireland's current child protection services.
An interim report published in 2003 gave the testimonies of more than 700 men and women who recalled being beaten on every part of their body with objects including leather straps, sticks, farm implements, and even hurling sticks.
Others were sexually abused and some described being gang raped.
'Over 35,000 children from the 1940s onwards were condemned to live under a regime of physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect,' she said.
'While these institutions no longer exist, people who are now aged from 30 to 80 years live day by day with the impact their experiences had on their lives.'
Ms Lewis added: 'If it is a thorough acknowledgement and documents rigorously what people experienced, then it may bring some closure.'
A government compensation scheme has been set up for victims of institutionalised child abuse - at an expected cost of £725million.
The names of alleged perpetrators will not be published - except for those already convicted - after several religious orders began legal action against the Commission.
But the inquiry is expected to produce specific findings against a number of institutions.
Among the many orders under investigation were the Sisters of Mercy and Christian Brothers, which ran the largest number of children's institutions.
Some of the allegations in the report cover events more than 60 years ago and many of the alleged perpetrators are dead or infirm.
The Commission was set up in 2000 by former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern after a TV exposé.
Its first presiding judge, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy, quit in 2003 amid accusations that the Republic's Department of Education - responsible for inspecting and regulating most of the institutions - was not co-operating with her requests for documents.
A second report, examining how the Catholic Church handled sex abuse complaints, will be published by the Commission in July.
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